RE/FE - Recording scholarship awards

Gracie Schild

Hi, everyone - this may be a no-brainer for everyone else, because I think we're not using FE to its full potential.


Do other colleges using both RE and FE somehow post the awarded amount of specific scholarships to the FE project?  RE is all about the money coming in, but we frequently need to know in Advancement what the available balance is, and that only comes by jumping through three hoops (FE, Empower, and an Excel spreadsheet). I'm only proficient in RE and am discussing changing the way we record awarded scholarships in FE to make that more accessible and less dependent on an Excel spreadsheet (on ONE person's drive - YIKES!). I'd like to know what I'm talking about when I sit down with the Controller and FE support.


Example: John Doe is funding the Jane Doe Memorial Scholarship.  I know how much he has given (RE gifts) and I know that it has been awarded in the last several semesters, but I don't know exactly how much has been awarded each time (it's part of the financial aid package and not a set amount).  If I look in Empower, I could probably track it down, but I'm not very handy with that and I'm afraid I might miss something.  Now John wants to know how much is available for next semester so he can "top it up"  - he wants to make sure there's enough to award something significant to 10 students.  How should we have been coding/recording the award money transferred to financial aid from FE?  Is there some particular field for awarding?  It's not an "expense" really - I guess you can tell I'm not an accountant!


Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Marc Seleman

Usually when monies like this that are received they are recorded in FE through a journal entry (or through RE/FE integration) usually using a project code that represents the scholarship fund.  Then when monies are disbursed, that transaction is recorded as well using the same project code.  By doing so various financial reports can be generated based on that project code to track activity and the remaining balance of the scholarship fund.


There is even a functionality, that if set up, can send that activity backwards into RE.  


https://kb.blackbaud.com/articles/Article/39387


Let me know if I can be of further assistance.